Interpretation

I just had this play in rotation today, and for some reason it struck me again...

 

 

Okay, so maybe not THAT one exactly, but the original.  I don't know what it is about that song, but it always 'gets' me.  I wouldn't say "emotional", but definitely thought provoking and evocative.  Partly it could be because of the interpretation that Scrubs puts on it above about the girl that dies - that's hardly 'un-emotional', but I dunno, maybe it's something else.

 

My interpretation of it is the poor misled guy / gal who has the starry eyes of a glorious event/happenings that's owed to them.  That somehow, by just 'being' they will be presented with this wondrous life that would make celebrity's jealous.  (there's another conversation to be had about how celebrities have ruined normal life by building up un-reachable expectations - just see the conversation bartleby has with loki in Dogma - and when I say "see" I mean "read")  So, is there a sense of entitlement that is unfounded?  Depends, but by just planning to "wait for your real life to begin" isn't going to make it happen.  As the girl says in the song "open up your heart, let the light (that already is there) shine in".

 

Another song that came in rotation today pretty close to it was "Ships in Full Sail" by Spirit of the West.  I thought it was apt in one line that I want to repeat here:

"horizons don't get closer"

For some reason that was an awesome line, maybe the combination of my interpretation on the earlier song, and then hearing that.

 

Often we are so focussed on the 'attaining' in life that we fail to recognize what we have 'obtained'.  Missing the forest for the trees, or similarly allowing our long goal focus forget what we have.  I'm not going to get all sentimental here or anything, but it really describes me.  For myself, I've sometimes set myself too lofty a goal, and as I look at what I have I get to thinking that I'm not there yet.  Really pertinent to me now as I'm awaiting the decision from the school boards about the pool hiring list.  Here I am 8 years after graduation striving after what I wanted...

 

But in the end I do have to look at what I have.  I have my wife, my son, a house... and I reflect on what I've done to get me here.  Sure there've been some mistakes I've made along the way.  Now would I go back and change them?  I look at my life and I love what I have.  I really wouldn't change it... yeah, there's a few things I wish I had, or was more successful in etc... but then that plays with the equation.  As a mathemetician I know what happens when you tinker with the variables, your output changes, and to be honest I don't think I'd really want to tinker and potentially lose what I have (that could be also because I'm also a guy who doesn't like change too much).

 

So, ... what does this all mean?  Nothing really... just something that struck me today as I drove to work.  To further the line from SOTW, "horizons don't get closer, rather you extend them further every time you make some gains".

 

Oh, and so I don't end on a sappy note -- I also liked this today (while doing some of my googling for this article):